Authorities examining claim in attack on German politician

BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are investigating an online posting that briefly appeared on a far-left website claiming responsibility for an attack on a far-right lawmaker.

Bremen police said Thursday they are examining whether the claim by a group calling itself "Anti-Fascist Spring" was genuine or not.

The post, which was deleted shortly after it appeared on the Indymedia website late Wednesday, claimed Alternative for Germany's local leader in Bremen, Frank Magnitz, had been attacked "in order to liberate him of his fascist ideas."

Police said the 66-year-old suffered head wounds in the attack Monday when he was hit from behind and fell to the ground.

Magnitz's party says the attack was politically motivated, a possibility police have said they are investigating, but not to the exclusion of other possibilities.

In this May 18, 2016 photo rank Magnitz, member of the AfD parliamentary group Bundestag in Berlin, speaks during a rally of Alternative for Germany against the planned building of a mosque in Erfurt. Magnitz was attacked and beaten up by several people in Bremen, Germany, Monday, Jan.7, 2019. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

File----Picture taken May 18, 2016, shows Frank Magnitz, member of the AfD parliamentary group Bundestag in Berlin, left, besides Bjoern Hoecke, head of AfD in the German state Thuringia, right, during a rally of Alternative for Germany against the planned building of a mosque in Erfurt. Magnitz was attacked and beaten up by several people in Bremen, Germany, Monday, Jan.7, 2019. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)